[Blog Tour] Top 5 Reasons to read An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

Hiya!!

I’ve started this month without posting my wrap-up. I’m still drafting it and planning to keep it shorter since I’ll be posting about the books I read in March this month, so there’s no point in repeating my thoughts in my wrap-up too.

In today’s post, I’m listing my top 5 reasons why you should be reading An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan as part of a blog tour hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. Fyi, this is my first book from the author and definitely will not be the last. I was mind-blown by this story. The writing was divine and can’t wait to read more books by the author. A quick reminder to check out the tour schedule to know more about this book and the blog tour.

Without further ado, let’s begin this tour.

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I received an eARC of this book courtesy of TBR and Beyond Tours and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

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Book DETAILS

► Title: An Arrow to the Moon

► BY: Emily X.R. Pan

► Publishing: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

► on: April 12, 2022

► GENRE: Young Adult Fantasy retelling (romance)

► Standalone

► PACING: fast ► PAGES: 400

► AGE: 15+ ► Rating: 4/5 ★

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BUY BOOK: AMAZON | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

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Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology in this magical novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After

Hunter Yee has perfect aim with a bow and arrow, but all else in his life veers wrong. He’s sick of being haunted by his family’s past mistakes. The only things keeping him from running away are his little brother, a supernatural wind, and the bewitching girl at his new high school.

Luna Chang dreads the future. Graduation looms ahead, and her parents’ expectations are stifling. When she begins to break the rules, she finds her life upended by the strange new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across the town of Fairbridge.

As Hunter and Luna navigate their families’ enmity and secrets, everything around them begins to fall apart. All they can depend on is their love…but time is running out, and fate will have its way. 

ADD TO GOODREADS

Rep: Chinese American (MC); Taiwanese American (MC)

• A Story within a story

At times, this book felt very meta to me. There was a story running along with the main story, giving us a layered plot. We read that from Hunter’s brother’s POV. This taps into our curiosity by leaving us hanging with every pause in between the chapters. I wanted to read more about that story and was sad that we were teased with snippets instead of giving us the full story.

• multiple povs

Each character in the book gets at least a chapter to narrate the story. We get 8 POVs, each picking up the story from where the last one had left. This, however, did not interrupt the flow of the plot. It increased the anticipation tenfold. One of the things I really appreciate in books is when side characters have their own voice and are not a mere addition to the story.

• Mysterious magic

The anticipation is what made me enjoy this book more. There were many unknowns of the magic at work in the book. Hunter’s arrow shooting precision and Luna’s ability to see fireflies in odd seasons were enough reasons for me to continue to know the whys. After a point, I left all the questions behind and just went with the flow of the story. Things fell into place and made more sense in the end. So the book is a bit mysterious but magical at the same time.

• Forbidden Lovers

Luna and Hunter’s paths never crossed until the night of the Mid Autumn Festival. All it took was a chance meeting for their lives to change. They were a moth drawn to the flame. Despite both their families warning them to keep their distance, an invisible thread brought them closer and closer. Their family feud was sparked by the rivalry between them. The reason behind their family feud wasn’t significant as I expected, but it did serve its purpose in the story.

• SIZZLING ROMANCE

I was sold to Luna and Hunter’s love story. Hunter had a rough life but Luna was the only light to chase the darkness closing on him. They completed each other. They were inseparable and needed the other to become whole. Their chemistry was off the charts. It’s not every day we get a Standalone YA Fantasy with a good romance. Romance in YA Fantasy is either a hit or miss for me. This one definitely hit the mark with its lyrical prose and the swoon-worthy romance.

Read An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan simply to enjoy a new spin on the Chinese moon goddess’s myth and for the phenomenal writing.

CW // Asthma, cheating, child abuse

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily X.R. Pan is the New York Times and National Indie bestselling author of THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER, which won the APALA Honor Award and the Walter Honor Award, and received six starred reviews. It was also an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time. Emily co-created the FORESHADOW anthology and teaches creative writing at New York University and other institutions. She lives on Lenape land (in Brooklyn, New York), but was originally born in the Midwestern United States to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She received her MFA in fiction from the NYU Creative Writing Program, where she was a Goldwater Fellow as well as the editor-in-chief of Washington Square Review. She was the founding editor-in-chief of Bodega Magazine and has been awarded residencies at Djerassi (2017) and Caldera (2019). She spends her free time playing the mandolin, making art, and training her furry dog-beast to balance on strange objects. Her next novel, AN ARROW TO THE MOON, will be published by Little, Brown in April 2022.

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What makes a book stand out for you?

“It was hard to resist a good love story— especially one that had so shaken the universe, like a pair of dice between cupped hands, watched by invisible eyes to see how they would tumble and land.”

―Emily X.R. Pan, An Arrow to the Moon